Tag Archive: recession


Just how bad was the 2008 stock market? (For me)

Filed Under: Uncategorized by jeremy — 1 Comment
January 20, 2009

For me it was -36.94%, according to Quicken. If I had followed my desired asset allocation of 10% VBMFX, 67.5% VTSMX, and 22.5% VGTSX, and if I had rebalanced quarterly, and if I had not added any money during the year, I would have seen a return of -35.01%. So I was not too far off.

Investment returns as of 2008

As you can see from this chart, I was at least above what I had contributed for most every quarter, except for Q4 2008. I am not worried, if the stock marker can drop that quick, it can come back quickly also. Besides, the big growth (as you may be able to see from the chart) will be from my contributions. Starting in Q4 2007 I started adding money like a crazy person.

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The economy entered a recession, so what should I do?

Filed Under: Uncategorized by jeremy — Comments Off
December 2, 2008

The NEBR Business Cycle Dating Committee determined that December 2007 was the peak of the last expansion, and a recession began following that. So now what?

That seems to be a question I keep hearing, for example on the WSJ morning radio show, they keep asking people how they are changing their behavior as a result of the recession. Why? The recession is an average of the economy as a whole. Asking how individuals how they are going to change in response would be like asking students how they are going to react to average test scores going down. Oooo average test scores are down in my school, should I study more or less? That would be stupid to even talk about.

Likewise how will I change my behavior? Not at all! I have been very frugal for the last 3 years, and I will continue to save money just the same. Will that pull down the average spending? Perhaps, perhaps not. Do I care? Nope. It’s just an average.

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